Shrewsbury 6th Form students Chad McDonald and Rory Kelly with Kim Bennett of the Shrewsbury Chronicle.

Shropshire Star sister paper The Shrewsbury Chronicle joined forces with the town’s Sixth Form College to shine the spotlight on young writers.

A group of around 60 English Language students turned newshounds when they took part in a writing competition.

The youngsters joined a workshop with Shropshire Newspapers deputy editor Jon Simcock, who then invited the students to submit either a news story or feature/comment piece for publication in the Chronicle.

Judging has now taken place, with the winning entries coming from 18-year-old Rory Kelly for his news story highlighting problems with Arriva buses, and Chad McDonald, 17, for his comment piece on social networking sites. Each received £50 from the Chronicle.

Head of English Lynne Banks said: “The students thoroughly enjoyed the workshop, and found it very useful. Quite a few would like to pursue a career in journalism so this was a good opportunity for them.”

The Chronicle’s assistant editor Kim Bennett said: “We always like to give young people a voice in our newspaper, so if there are any more youngsters out there who have a story for us, we would love to hear from them. Just email me at kbennett@shropshirestar.co.uk”

Read Rory and Chad’s winning entries on the next two pages.